Reviewed by scarr on
I am going to confess something shocking . . .
I hate NPR. I hate their breathy voices. I hate their programming. I hate how white people eat this shit up like organic kale from the "good" farmer's market. I hate how "I listen to NPR" is short-hand for "I am a woke white person thus I am not part of the problem!".
With that said - although this book is obsessed with NPR and public radio - that didn't bother me, all the NPR-listener tropes were present and I felt vindicated about my harsh judgements. I liked the writing and I enjoyed some of the meatier aspects surrounding relationships: how they break down or people move on, etc etc. More of that would have been preferred.
What didn't work for me was the whole pretend-ex's. It was difficult for me to believe that Dominic would forgo his journalistic standards (that he formed whilst in grad school lol) for a relationship podcast. Also, I question how Shay could have been so game for lying to her listeners almost immediately upon being offered the chance to host her own show. Or maybe Shay is such a veteran at public radio this kind of lie is common? The lie just felt so icky and cringey it was hard for me to trust the main characters. I would rather have had none of the faux-ex storyline and just have them host a show about relationships and then they organically fall for each other.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 12 March, 2021: Finished reading
- 12 March, 2021: Reviewed